Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, CHRISTMAS SEASON, by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

CHRISTMAS SEASON, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: This is a christmas carol
Last Line: O english of shakespeare!
Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson Of Boone, Benj. F.
Subject(s): Christmas; Singing & Singers; Nativity, The


THIS is a Christmas carol --
A late one, it is true, --
But (dight in Truth's apparel)
The best that we can do: --
The best our Muse belated
Thus offers, antedated, --
E'en as the old waits waited
We, waiting, sing for you.

So, haply, you may listen,
As 'twere, with Fancy's ear,
And shape such songs of this-un
As were worth worlds to hear, --
Such anthemings ecstatic
As scaled The Mermaid's attic
In midnight's aromatic
Of choicest Christmas cheer:

Such songs as Marlowe lifted,
With throstle-throated Will
And rare Ben, as they shifted
Their laughing voices till
The mirth, with music blended,
So oversweet ascended,
It well were never ended --
And, hark! -- you hear it still! . . .

You hear it; aye, and love it! --
Beyond all voices dear --
Your master's! -- none above it. --
So harken, and so hear! --
Your master's English. -- Surely
No other rests so purely
On Fame, or more securely, --
O English of Shakespeare!





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